How Am I Keeping Up After My Big Closet Purge? 6 months into KM…

Half a year ago in June I posted my very first experience with the Konmari Method and talked about my big closet purge. So how am I keeping with my closet now, you might wonder? Does the Konmari Method really help or is my closet filled to the brim again? Is it easy to keep up managing the closet in a tidy way? In this post I will answer all of those questions and tell you about what it’s been like for me to live after the Konmari Method these past six months.

First of all – and I will not lie to you – yes, it does need discipline to keep up with the tidy closet… a lot of discipline… Folding my clothes, specially my tights, I often feel like going back to the old way, back into rolling them up in a ball and just tossing them into the basket. But I keep reminding myself that it is worth it, and that it’s easier to find what I need, and that they surely do look “happier” (you know what I mean if you’ve read the book… 😉 ), and that I surely feel happier when looking into my tights basket. It’s way easier to keep up with the sock folding as they are of course smaller and look tidy and neat straight away after folding.

After my closet purge post I still had to figure out a way to store my T-Shirts nicely somehow. I looked around in many stores but was never quite happy with any of the storage containers. I also didn’t want to use shoe boxes, I wanted the Tee’s to be stored away in similar looking boxes. After searching for a very long time and slowly getting sick of the process, I came across these storage containers:

I like the sturdy plastic material and the creamish colour of the light ones. Alas, there were not enough of those left so I took two dark ones as well which didn’t make me 100% happy but happy enough to finally start sorting out my Tee’s. Also, I wasn’t too happy about the round edges but I got used to them and it makes them look smooth and nice I figured.

I then went on and sorted out my shirts, divided by colours – dark ones and brighter ones, and by undershirts or summer shirts that might be used as undershirts as well.

Now the shirts are just so much more easy to access to as the containers are easy to grab and lift and move around to get to the box I need. It is also very easy to store the shirts and fold them into place, no problem with that at all.

…oooh, the joy every time I look at them now ❤

This method also helped me keep track of my shirts – I see them all at a glance and remember much better which ones I haven’t been using for a while (or at all…) Ever since, I was able to pick out those particular ones and put them in a Brocki bag for donation. Also, I just kept to the fact that if the Tee’s do not fit into the container anymore, then it’s time to get rid of another one or two for the sake of the new ones fitting in there nicely again. That works pretty good for me and has taught me to keep an eye out on what I do actually need and what needs to be replaced.

A few weeks ago it was also time to change my summer wardrobe into my winter wardrobe, as alas, it is impossible here to keep the same wardrobe throughout the year in this country.

I took the winter box (remember – the one that was initially two boxes and now fit into one?) down from the top of my closet and was just so happy and relieved I didn’t need to wash all those clothes before storing them into my closet again. Before, the two winter boxes were stored in the attic where the clothes gathered a weirdish attic smell and needed to be washed after every wardrobe seasonal change.

I took the winter clothes out of the plastic container, shook them out and filled the container up with the summer clothes which I found out were way many more than the winter clothes! As I wanted everything to fill up that same plastic box (I didn’t want to have two boxes again!!!) it was a good opportunity to go through the clothes as I was storing them and see what I haven’t used much or what didn’t actually bring me that much joy after all, and sort out to the Brocki bag as well.

Up on the top of my closet now is my full summer box, waiting for me to be taken down again next spring and fill me with joy as I discover all of the nice clothes again (doesn’t it always feel a bit like Christmas when doing so 🙂 ? ).

All in all, and also when looking back at my old closet pictures, I feel an utter rush of relief whenever I open my closet and it’s just so nice and tidy. The work and discipline put into that is really yielding its fruits and makes me feel happy and light whenever I open those closet doors ❤

This whole experience surely grew some antennas in my head to detect and decide what I truly do need and what better leaves after all, even though I had not decided against it after the big closet purge. Sometimes, you know you have to let go of things, but you just need a little bit more time to feel comfortable with the thought and then act upon it.

What I’ve also been learning to do is to replace the things that I needed with those that I needed but brought me even more joy. As I wrote about it in this post here, it also applies to replacing clothes. Replacing my gym clothes. Replacing underwear that is nice, but that I have been having for many, many years. It feels good to have new things that are beautiful and spark a whole lot more joy ❤

This was a hard process as it is absolutely not the way I grew up like and a thought that does not apply to my way of thinking at all. My way of thinking always was: if you have something that is still good and not broken, there’s no need at all to replace it.

So I’ve been keeping loads of clothes as well that were still in good shape and ok (as, for example socks or underwear) but I’ve been having since the felt stone age. Nothing wrong with that at all. But I finally brought myself to accept that something that brings me more joy and is beautiful will fulfill me more than what I kept because it was still good and handy.

Adapting to this thought was probably the hardest thing as I’m absolutely against unnecessary waste of things, but I can console myself by knowing that the Brocki (charity shop) around the corner really takes everything and that there are people buying everything and anything there. I would never put something in a Brocki bag that is broken or in a horrible state, but for all the rest, I’m happy to know that the things I bring there (yes, even underwear, imagine that!) will be appreciated by others who don’t have enough money to buy new things at the regular stores.

I hope this post has given you a bit of an insight and inspiration into using the Konmari Method. I’ve also been there when I read the title of the book and thought “…life-changing? Come on…” but it’s truly not exaggerated at all, and if you browse the internet for a while about it you’ll see that I’m not the only one vouching for that method and telling you it’s really true 😉

I’m still in the process of learning here. And still have a long path ahead of me. But by walking step by step, I’ll eventually get to my vision of how I’d like to have my home look like ❤

Tell me about your own journey and experiences with the Konmari Method – I’d love to hear all about it!

Thank you Mara! Oh they are that well known? I had never seen them in my life before *lol*. I nearly opted for the bigger one but in the end liked the smaller ones better. What do you use them for at your place?

Oh yes, the Curver storage system is, I think, quite ubiquitous, and it’s my absolute favourite. I use the small baskets for pens and stationery, for make-up and for spices in the kitchen; the medium boxes I have for toiletries and cleaning supplies and tools; and the big ones I use as recycling bins for paper and plastics. I also have other things from the same brand, like a laundry basket or even a cat litter box. I like to have everything organised and everything in the same style… I’m apparently unhealthily obsessed with organisation. 😮

…wow!!! Will you share pictures of your organized place please? x-D I never thought of using those boxes differently but now that you mention all those different things you use them fore it totally makes sense! Specially since they’re so easy to clean it’s a gorgeous way to “display” your cleaning stuff or use it in the kitchen… hmmmm… *thinkinghard*… 😉

Haha, I was actually tempted to document my use of boxes for organising even before you asked for it, but then I thought who would care to look at my boxes… Now I’m planning to take pictures of all and write an organising post, inspired by you! I’ll keep you posted 🙂

It makes me happy that the method is still working for you! I’m just now starting her book, and I really like it. I don’t think it will be life changing for me in many areas, since I already have a fairly minimal amount of things. However, clothes are hard for me. I hate to shop for them, so I’ll keep whatever I have even when it’s hideous and makes me feel bad until it wear out. I would rather make an effort to feel happy 🙂

I would say it’s maybe more “life-changing” regarding the thoughts that it’s bringing to you – new thoughts different of what you were brought up with. And that by looking at things differently it automatically adds to your happiness – do you know what I mean? Let me know how you liked the book when you finished – I’d love to hear about it and about your KM process if you start it 🙂 Lucky you that you don’t have many things… you might be done in a knick of time 🙂 Thanks Jillian for stopping by, I appreciate ❤

Yes, I agree. I think I just have too much in common with her. I did some of the same things, like always trying to clean and throw things away as a child 🙂 The sock part stood out to me too though- I guess I do want my socks to be happy!

*LOL* – yes, the sock part definitely needs some time to get used to 😉 But I ended up adapting and love looking at my sock basket 😉 Oh wow! You’re good! I also cleaned a lot as a kid but hoarded more than threw away *g*

Love this post – and the other one – about making your closet live a more healthy and beautiful life. Not many things bring such happy thoughts as when you are done and can stand looking at it, feeling delightfully satisfied. I must start again now…sorting things out. It’s the same thing with my desk…The problem for me is to get started – and now I’m going to try this question of yours: Does it spark joy?

Oh yeah – the most difficult thing is to bring yourself to start… afterwards it’s easy (well – more or less…). I still haven’t managed to bring my desk back to the beautiful state it had a few months ago 😦 (I guess I never really start^^). And you’re right – there’s nothing greater than that feeling when you know you’re DONE 🙂 ! Thanks Leya for commenting, really appreciate it ❤

We’ve been on this journey for about the same amount of time (my big purge was in April). We came home from a holiday yesterday and once again, same as last holiday, I want to throw all of those clothes in the trash because they no longer bring ANY joy. They are perfectly good clothes in excellent condition, but it is time for them to go.

And coincidentally, I’m working on a draft of a very similar blog post! Great job keeping in the Kon Mari method. It really gets into your head, doesn’t it?

Oh I remember you writing about that after your holidays! Isn’t it funny how all of the sudden you feel like it’s really TIME for them to go…? Nice feeling somehow though as well, eh 😉 ? Ooooh, let me know when you’ve posted it – I’d love to read how you’re getting on! ❤